Pakatan MPs missing; only 8 in Dewan Rakyat, causing lack of quorum

KUALA LUMPUR, August 4 – Pakatan Harapan Member of Parliaments (MP) went missing from the Dewan Rakyat this evening, with only 8 MPs present, nearly causing the sitting to be postponed to tomorrow due to lack of quorum.

Pakatan Harapan’s Chang Lih Kang stood up to alert the speaker about the lack of quorum around 7.45pm stopping Minister of Housing and Local Government Zuraida Kamaruddin from continuing with her rounding up session.

According to Dewan Rakyat Meeting Standing Order Number 13 (1), the quorum for Council and Committee Meetings must be 26 MPs not including the chairman.

Speaker Datuk Azhar Harun then asked for the count, and only 22 MPs were present. He ordered for the Dewan Rakyat bell to ring for 1 minute to call on more MPs to return to the quorum.

Tanjong Karang MP, Datuk Seri Noh Omar stood up to accuse Chang of trying to gain attention while many of Perikatan Nasional MPs are out for the Maghrib prayer.

Puncak Borneo MP, Willie Mongin then stood up and said that he only counted 8 MPs from the Pakatan side.

The Speaker nearly called for the session to be postponed after only 24 MPs were present, only for 2 Perikatan MPs to return back and complete the quorum.

-NMT